[ Editor’s Note: It is rare to have retired military brass
go public like this, but it is a sign that the tide is turning, and these are
the people we should be hearing from now to beat back the losers who will still
try to torpedo a Syrian peace resolution that does not put their puppets all
over the country.

The general tells us that
Assad was on his last legs, and we have Moscow’s testimony that he had
asked the Russian to come in “with no conditions”, which meant that they would
run the military show, as they were putting Russia’s neck on the line.

This thing could
still be worse before it gets better. Erdogan and his gang risk prosecution for
what they have done if a coup should replace them. And if he tries to
order Turkish military action in Syria, it could be what the Turkish military
would need for an instant coup.

Those who are losing will
go all in to kill any chance of peace. Those of us at VT have been sweating the
game changer big false flag attack, the kind used to clear the way for outside
intervention by the bad guys to “stabilize” the situation. But the Munich
progress on getting humanitarian aid into critical areas could build the trust
momentum needed to paint the jihadis AND their backers into a corner… Jim
W. Dean ]

____________

– First published …
February 12, 2016 –

General Kujat

Russia was the first
to do the groundwork for peace in Syria by launching its anti-IS operation,
while both Washington and Brussels lacked any kind of strategy, the ex-chairman
of NATO’s Military Committee has said.

Lieutenant General Harald Kujat,who was chief of staff of the Bundeswehr (German armed
forces) from 2000-2002 and served as NATO’s Military Committee chairman from
2002-2005, made the comments on the Syrian crisis in an interview with Passauer
Neue Presse newspaper.

“The Russians have
made the peace process [in Syria] possible,” he told the newspaper on
Friday.

The West was at
standstill until September 2015, Kujat stressed: “Neither the Americans nor the
Europeans had any strategy for a peaceful Syria. Both weren’t prepared to be
really involved. The Russians did it and opened a window for political
solution.”

The Russian operation was
crucial for the Syrian Army on the ground to survive Islamic State’s (IS,
formerly ISIS/ISIL) offensive and prevent the entire country from being seized
by Islamist militants, he said.

“I gave them several
weeks [to last before being defeated]. Then Syria would have collapsed, with IS
capturing the country. The next target would be Lebanon, then Israel. It could
result in far-reaching consequences for all of us.”

According to Kujat,
Russian air support for the Syrian Army’s operation to re-take Aleppo was
essential from a military perspective.

Earlier in February,
Kujat, who started his military career in the German Air Force, dismissed
possible NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) deployment to
Syria as pointless.

“NATO decides
nothing in the Syrian civil war with a few AWACS aircraft,” he told Neue
Osnabrucker Zeitung. “To really beat IS, ground forces are required. The
question is whether NATO really wants to step into this war.”

Russia’s anti-IS air
campaign has been frequently criticized by the West, which accuses Moscow of
targeting Syrian “moderate” opposition forces and stalling the peace
talks. The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly dismissed the accusations
and has dubbed the US-led strikes inefficient, while Russian diplomats have
pointed out that Washington’s Syrian strategy seems to be playing into IS
hands.

assange

At midday on Friday 5 February, 2016 Julian Assange, John Jones QC, Melinda Taylor, Jennifer Robinson and Baltasar Garzon will be speaking at a press conference at the Frontline Club on the decision made by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on the Assange case.